


...Is Worth Two In the Bush

by Silverheart



Series: Bats and Birds [14]
Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Brothers, Gen, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 13:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4626216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverheart/pseuds/Silverheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightwing takes Robin out on his first patrol after his injury. There is some action, some adventure, and Catwoman helps out (while making a living, of course).</p>
            </blockquote>





	...Is Worth Two In the Bush

**Author's Note:**

> This started as Tim and Dick brotherhood adventure, and then Selina wanted in on it.

Tim swung himself up to the gargoyle, panting. That had been way too close to a miss. 

“I always did say songbirds had trouble seeing at night.”

Tim glared upwards at the statue where Nightwing had gracefully come to a stop. Dick was hanging upside down from it, grinning at him. “Let me know how you do after weeks on crutches.”

“That only happens to Robins who are _too slow_.”

Tim considered grabbing his adopted brother and throwing him into the abyss. It wouldn’t kill the guy and it would make Tim feel better.

“Heads up,” Oracle called in suddenly, “We’ve got a hostage situation at the Gotham Museum of Art.”

“We’ll head on over,” Dick answered, righting himself, “Ah, G Moa. The stuffy museum that sounds like a rapper from New Zealand. Good times.”

Tim leapt towards the heart of town, unfolding his cape to glide. Nightwing opted to dart quickly down the side of the building and begin hopping rooftops. “What’s the situation, Oracle?” he asked, sending his grappling hook out to gain height again. 

“The gang locked the place down during some event. The cops have it surrounded, and are trying to hack the security system. They’re having a lot of luck. It’s a pretty state of the art system. Hard to crack when it’s in lockdown. These guys must be smarter than your average goon.”

“Nah,” Dick said, not panting at all, “They came to Gotham to commit a crime. Only idiots do that.”

Tim almost missed his next landing and cursed under his breath. “You work in Bludhaven.”

“But I’m here now. Next block.”

Tim pulled himself high and dove for the museum’s roof. He saw Dick leap over a ledge and knock out the lookout the bad guys had posted. He shook his head as Tim landed. “You’re going to blow your knees out doing that,” he said, “They’re going to realize their rooftop guy is down soon. We’d better move in.”

Tim nodded and stood without any trouble. “Air vents?”

“Read my mind.”

They each took a different set of ducts, using their visual modifiers to track the kidnappers, the hostages, and each other through the walls. 

Tim counted about twenty of the kidnappers and about as many hostages. It wasn’t the usual musclehead operation, either; they were armed, but not heavily, and seemed pretty coordinated. The inner doors where all locked down and good. It wouldn’t be easy to get into where they were keeping the hostages.

“They just issued some ransom demands,” Oracle said as Tim prepared to drop on a patrolling pair. Dick was around a dog-leg, having already hit the lookout there. “There was an elite fundraising dinner.”

“At a guess, they were disguised as staff?”

Dick chuckled over the comms. “Never anything new, huh?”

“Not really.” Tim kicked out the grate and swept down on his targets, slamming their heads together before they even knew he was there. He jogged around the corner, returning his vision to normal. It could get a bit disorienting after a while.

Dick was leaned against a wall. He yawned and stretched as Tim approached. “Slow, slow, _slow_. Man, good thing you weren’t on those crutches any longer.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just watch, I’ll show you how the real Robin does it.”

“With a really big stick and submission holds? Nah, lacks style.”

“Boys, boys,” a smooth feminine voice called, “You’re both pretty.”

They turned in time to see Catwoman come slinking out the shadows. She looked at them and sighed. “I hate it when someone decides to crash my party.”

Nightwing’s hand went to his back, where he’d stashed his escrima sticks. “It’s what we do best.”

“Oh, please.” She sauntered right past them, towards one of the sealed doorways. “I wasn’t talking about you little birdies.” She placed a hand on the door and nodded to it. “I mean these rodents.”

Tim folded his arms across his chest. Dick had moved his hands from his weapons, but he wasn’t good at pretending to be relaxed. “They messed up a job of yours, Selina?”

She smiled by way of congratulations. “Very badly. And before your dear little Oracle can figure out what it is, I’ll tell you: there’s a little porcelain statuette of a shepherdess, of all things, in there, one of the major draws of the party. Owned by Catherine the Great, once. Not to my tastes, so…pastoral…but there’s always a buyer.” She shrugged. “Obviously, since that was why the party was here in the first place.”

“That’s honest of you,” Dick said.

“You don’t trust me.” She laughed. Her smile lost its mocking, suddenly, and was just affectionate. “Well, neither did he, and I gave him reason.” She examined her claws. “I happen to have the codes for the security system, which will make it much easier for all of us to get in.”

“What do you want in return?”

She shrugged. “I’m not fond of rodents and their ways, what can I say? Let’s minimize the risk.”

Tim and Dick exchanged a look. They’d never been near Selina much; Dick maintained Bruce always insisted on dealing with her on his own because that was his idea of a date. Tim for one had never seen her as a liar, exactly. A thief and a con, selfish more than selfless, but not a liar.

“Alright,” he said, speaking for both of them, “Get us in there.”

“My pleasure.” She flicked open a panel that they hadn’t even known was there and tapped out a quick code. “Be ready, boys.”

The security door slid up into its elegant frame. The three of them threw smoke pellets into the room beyond, then charged in.

Tim threw one of the kidnappers into a wall, then slammed another to the ground. He turned with his staff out in time to see Catwoman pounce on another, slamming an elbow into his face and knocking him out as the smoke cleared.

She smiled as she stood, acting as if she were dusting off her knees – giving Tim an even more clear than usual view down her catsuit. “Nothing like a good workout,” she said.

Dick stepped over the small ring of bodies. “That’s about half of them, if we’re going by the earlier count.”

Selina pulled her googles over her eyes. “It looks like there’s a three at the bar in the gallery next door.”

Tim flipped his staff against his shoulder. “I like it when they make it easy for us.”

“And easier for me,” Selina said. She flicked an elegant hand as she sauntered towards the door. “You kids find some corner to watch from. I haven’t had this sort of fun in a long time.”

“Then what have you been doing?” Dick asked.

She looked back at him, her mouth twisting in a bitter smile. “Trying to make a living. Now, watch this.”

She slipped into the green-painted room like…well, a cat. Tim and Dick took up an angle to watch her do what she did. They’d never actually seen it.

One of the men at the bar spotted Selina and nudged the others until they turned and saw her. “Hello, gentlemen,” she purred, “Just stopping by for a drink.”

They chuckled. One of them poured her a glass of wine. “Go ahead, Catwoman. You can take anything you want from the museum. That’s not what we’re here for.”

“Really?” she asked, taking the offered glass of wine, “Then why bother with the place? You clearly got the security codes. Nicely done, by the way. I had to really claw for them.”

Tim suspected that meant that she’d found one of the gang and beat the codes out of him.

The kidnappers were just flattered, though, not suspicious. “Oh, it was cinch, if you know the right strings’ to pull.”

“That still begs the question of why.” Selina swirled her glass but didn’t drink it.

The bartender shrugged. He was leaning on the bar in front of her, captivated. Tim never got it. He saw Selina’s elegant sexiness and it sent up red flags. But then maybe that was just years of teenage exposure to a long list of really hot female violently psychotic criminals. 

“Ransom,” one of the other men said, “With all the big dogs back out again, there’s no place anymore for some guys just trying to make it on your own, you see.”

Another sighed. “We were doing just fine on our own for the past few months, and them bam! Penguin comes back, Two-face comes back…all the kinds of bosses who don’t tolerate any competition and shoot their employees for no damn reason at all. Black Mask was the best option, and some Bat wannabe killed him.”

Dick shook his head. “I don’t believe it,” he whispered, “Small business criminals, trying to scrape together a living in the shadow of Big Psycho.”

“Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t have pick this crowd to kidnap,” Selina told her fans.

“Why is that?”

She sniffed at her wine. “For one this vintage is just cheap.” The bartender leaned it, and she threw the glass in his face.

Quick as lightening, she vaulted over the bar and kicked him in the face. The other four, completely confused, scrambled for their weapons, but Selina slammed one’s face into the bar, then used her whip to pull another forward so she could knock him out. The other two ran.

Selina pounced, laying one of the men out flat. She lashed out with her whip, tripping the other.

“That, boys, is how it’s done,” she said, walking over to place a boot on the conscious man’s back, “I think this part is more your specialty than mine, though.”

Robin and Nightwing emerged and relieved her of her prey. Tim hauled the guy up to his feet and pinned his arms behind his back. He still looked confused. 

“I’ll give you credit,” Dick said to Selina, “That was effective.”

Selina shrugged as she coiled her whip back up. “Sweet talk works better than a punch in the face, I’ve found.” She looked at the two of them and hid a snort behind a hand. “Not that you two were raised in an environment where that was a standard belief.”

Neither of them argued with that. Instead, Dick turned to their captive. “Alright, buddy,” he said, “You tell us where the hostages are, or Robin here practices some of his submission holds on you. You can try to tap out, but I doubt he’ll care.”

Tim glared. That was the best Dick had? 

“You want it, you got it!” the guy said, “Just please don’t kill me!”

Right, Jason’s…thing. That was going to change the playing field. “Okay,” Tim said, tightening his hold on the guy’s arms, “So talk.”

“Storage room. Six of them. Please don’t kill me!”

“No worries,” Tim said, releasing him.

Dick pulled back and slammed his fist into the guy’s jaw, dropping him. He shook his hand. “Haven’t done that in awhile.”

“You’re no Batman,” Tim said, “’Practice some of his submission holds’, really?”

“You work with what you got. I’ve got a songbird, not a bat.”

“As I said earlier,” Selina interrupted, “you’re both pretty. Let’s go rescue the hostages now.”

“You’re going to help?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

“Hang on,” Tim said, thinking, “You can lift the security lockdown. Could you undo for the whole building?”

“From the central control room, yes.”

Tim turned to Dick. “Catwoman and I can lift the lockdown. Think you can handle five or six lightweights on your own while rescuing the hostages?”

“Cakewalk.” He glanced at Selina, and then back to Tim.

“We’ll be good,” Tim said, “If you know the way, Catwoman, let’s go.”

She laughed and nodded over her shoulder. “This way.” 

Dick nodded and took off towards the nearby kitchen and storage room.

“Trying to make sure I’m a good girl?” Selina asked as she led him into another gallery.

“More or less.”

She laughed. “I’d rather have the one without the cape. It’s a better show.”

Tim paused, processing that, then started walking again. She was a very forthright person, Selina Kyle. “Why are you helping us?”

She halted as they hit the juncture between four hallways. “I’m a helper,” she deadpanned, “This way.”

“The real reason, Selina.”

She slipped her goggles on outside a simple wooden door marked ‘Staff Only.’ “I forget, you’re not only the smart one, you’re the persistent one. Those idiots didn’t even leave a guard. They _deserve_ to fail.”

“Selina.”

She crouched down and took a lock pick out of her belt. “So your girl didn’t tell you what I told her.” She shrugged as she began to work. “It _was_ in a personal moment. At his grave.”

Tim’s brow furrowed. “You spoke to Barb.” During one of her visits to Bruce. Tim couldn’t bring himself to go, but she did at least once a month.

She nodded. “I…owe him.” The lock clicked. “Got ya!” She stood, tucking her lock pick away. “And I miss him.” She looked down for a moment, still as if she were just a normal woman, and sad, then headed in, all feline sleekness again. “If you kids need my help, just ask. I’ll do what I can.”

The room was all video screens and keyboards. A fat security guard was slumped over, led to a chair. Tim rushed to check his pulse. He was only out cold. He untied him and lowered him gently to a couch in the room. What a rough night for the old guy. 

He turned to see Selina watching him, hovering over a keyboard. She was smiling, not her usual wry or cruel expression. “He raised you kids right, you know. That’s not something I can say about a lot of people I’ve met, especially not after dark.” Her clawed glove danced across the keyboard. “There we go, lockdown lifted. And lookie here, Captain Tightpants has just finished off the last of the failures.”

Tim followed her gaze to a screen where Nightwing was giving a goon an extra kick in the head. “You good, Nightwing?” he called.

“Same old, same old. I’ve got a nice bullet graze for a souvenir. Is the lockdown lifted?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to untie these people, then. The cops should be here any minute.”

“See you there.” Tim turned to thank Selina, but she’d vanished.

He had a sinking feeling. So much for making sure she didn’t steal anything. He sighed and activated his visual link to Barb. “We’re all clear, thanks to our catty friend,” he told her.

Barb smiled. “Well, that’s a few good things to hear tonight.”

“Maybe not quite yet. Can you tell me where there’s a porcelain figurine of a shepherdess once owned by Catherine the Great?”

The smile turned to a frown. “Her loot for the night? Not her usual haul.”

“I think it’s an issue of money, these days.”

Barb typed quickly and watched her screen for a second. “Okay, got it. Green Gallery. I’ve put a marker on your sensors.”

Tim nodded and rushed back along the route Selina had led him on. Right into the room with the bar where she’d chatted up the goons.

The marker Barb had thrown up for him pointed to a glass case, full of very pastoral figurines.

The marker pointed to an empty spot. A note had been stuck on the glass.

‘Sweet talk works better than a punch in the face.’


End file.
